High Fall
by you'vegotthis
Summary: Castle is high, how he got that way is another story. A sexy little one shot.


High Fall.

Summary: Castle is high, how he got that way is another story. A sexy little one shot.

A/N: I don't know why I'm obsessed with this idea but obviously I'm haven't written it out of my system. If you're interested, there are others in this 'high' series.

This is dedicated to the Asian-Pacific Twitter Castle fanwomen. No matter how obsessed I get with Castle, compared to you all, I feel normal.

* * *

Richard Castle had been stupid at times, but Kate had never been worried where that stupidity would lead her.

Now, she is.

His childish impulsiveness has led them both to this place. Four hours ago she was content to walk with him, hand in hand, to the small farmer's market close to his loft. Visiting it for the fall pumpkins and apple cider was a rite of passage for Alexis and he'd whined that Kate needed to go in her stead. It hadn't taken much to convince her, he was careful to make his plea directly on her neck.

It was a beautiful autumn Saturday, the mid-morning sun creating a pleasant contrast with the nippy breeze. The relaxed speed of the market, the casual dress of those bringing their wares, the scent of fried food dazzled the senses.

Rows of fresh apples, pumpkins and colorful mums lined the walkways. They stopped a few times to admire or purchase. It wasn't long before she eyed a beautiful caramel-covered apple on a stick, peanuts and drizzled chocolate completing the perfect picture.

"My dad used to buy those for me as a kid, lost a front tooth working my way through one," she smiled at him.

Two minutes later, his arm around her waist and conspiratorial tug found her trying to manage the wax paper, attempting the first bite while trying to keep the wind from blowing her hair in her mouth. He loved the way she was tossing her head, until she smiled wide enough to show him the caramel and chocolate that covered her front teeth.

"God you are so sexy," he watched as she hunched over her treat, not at all mindful of the crowd pushed around them.

She laughed at him, bumping his hip, "Yeah? Lure you in?"

"I always believed in your witchy powers."

He squeezed her and leaned in to catch his mouth on hers, tasting the sweet treat on her. He took his time to brush her teeth with his tongue.

When he came up for air, he smacked his lips and grabbed her wrist before she could, in her relaxed state, accidentally touch her delicacy to his coat.

"You like me dirty in every way, Kate?"

"You don't seem to mind helping me with my oral hygiene."

"Hmm, the way you say 'oral hygiene.'"

Amused, she smiled at him, but as she leaned in to kiss him again, he pulled her occupied hand up to his lips and opened his mouth wide to steal her apple.

That's how his stupidity was going to lead her to murdering him.

* * *

"Rick? Can you open your eyes for me?"

"Rick, it's Doctor Hanes, can you hear me?"

"Never been good with anesthesia, are you sure you don't want me to call his daughter?" Dr. Hanes turned to Kate.

"No, she just started college and I'm here." She was slightly annoyed this guy didn't seem to trust her.

"It's just that Rick has been coming to me for years, and Alexis knows how to handle him."

She pursed her lips and leaned down to whisper into Castle's ear.

The smile on his face was followed by stirs of consciousness. She glanced smug-faced to the doctor before he left the room.

"Hey, how are you?" She stroked his forehead, leaning over him.

He blinked a few times before smiling up at her. He was adorable in his bib, a little lopsided grin spreading across his face.

"Wha happened?" he slurred.

"Very violent battle with a caramel apple," she teased, "you lost when you broke your tooth. We came to Dr. Hanes, remember?"

"Sexy witch?"

She smiled, "yeah, something like that, you had a little oral surgery, but I'm going take you home."

"Hmm, oral."

"Shhhh, too loud Castle."

"Like it when you're too loud, Kate."

* * *

"Ms. Beckett, are you sure you don't want me to call Alexis? Can you handle him alone?"

She'd always been able to handle Richard Castle, and no dentist office receptionist was going to call that into question.

* * *

He was like an octopus. The entire cab ride back to his loft. She'd no sooner removed the suction cups of his fingers from her upper thigh, when he'd twisted her body to hold her face. He leaned his forehead into hers, and it would have been a tender moment, if she hadn't felt his other hand on her ass.

"Castle?"

"Hmm," was his only response as he used his weight to lean over her, their foreheads still touching, until she felt herself trapped between him and the headrest.

"Castle, enough." She pushed on his chest.

"Back seat treat?"

She felt herself getting frustrated. How did he have so many hands?

* * *

Even the New York City cab driver felt the need to offer help when they finally pulled up to the building.

Kate Beckett refused.

She was a cop. A _homicide_ cop for heaven's sake. She could do this.

* * *

It had been her sincere hope that he would sleep it off. She didn't think it would be so hard to get him into bed.

He'd gone from groggy to hyper, and not in a good way.

She's sort of chased him around the apartment in his fluttering attention from food (she refused to let him make coffee in his condition), to wanting to call Alexis (she distracted him by pulling his coat off his shoulders and slipping the phone out of his hand, placing it on the back of the couch), and finally to wanting to be entertained.

He wanted to play laser tag with her.

Naked.

And he was terribly fixated on the idea.

She'd managed to evade him enough to get him moving toward the bedroom.

"Why don't you lie down for a while?" she cooed, "rest up for the game?"

They make it to the office before he lets go of her hands and grabs her around the waist, lifting her off the ground, stumbling to fall into his office chair. He's wearing her out, so she lets him have the moment, mostly because it means he stays still.

She holds him close, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on to the back of the chair so that his arms can only roam over her backside, and with her coat still on, he isn't getting as far as he wants to.

"We don't have to play laser tag, Kate," she's a bit relieved hoping he'll let go of the idea, but he quickly dispels that hope, "we could play another game."

She laughs as he places a very sloppy kisses from his numb lips on her shoulder and in her hair, the only parts she's letting him reach.

"Not feeling any pain there, are you? You are going to have to control yourself." She ruffles her hands through his hair. Slides her hands down to lift off him.

"Hmm, rather control you." And that's when she hears the familiar click. Handcuffs. They must have been in his desk drawer.

"Castle!" They both look at her wrist, now shackled to his office chair, and then at each other. He smiles, all boyish charm.

She's in trouble.

* * *

He slaps her on the ass as he jumps up to leave the room, "I just need to go get the equipment. You," he looks her up and down, pointing, "take off your clothes."

"Castle!" she calls after him, horrified.

"Damnit," she mutters, considering the odd placement of the handcuffs, if she wants to sit in the chair, her trapped arm has to cross her body, she needs to find those keys. She digs through the desk draws with her free hand, hoping to find it. Instead, she finds a Barbie doll and a plastic dinosaur. She wonders just who the mystery is in this relationship.

She can hear him upstairs stomping around, whatever he's saying, she can tell he's excited. She's more certain than ever that she doesn't want to play naked laser tag.

Crouched over because she's too tall for the distance the cuff allows her, she pulls the chair on its rollers to the door of the office, headed for the phone on the back of the couch.

She needs back up.

It's just her luck that the chair is too large for the doorway and no matter what angle she tries, she can't make it fit.

"Castle! Where are the keys?" she yells.

"Don't need 'em!" he replies, his voice muffled by god-only-knows-what activity. There are several large thuds followed by the sound of breaking glass.

She can see the phone, sitting exactly where she left it on the back of the couch. No matter how hard she stretches her arms between the doorway and the back of the couch, she simply cannot reach it.

"Castle! What are you doing up there?"

"Looking for my tennis racket."

As if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

She hears a hairdryer running.

She's not sure if she safer, but she thinks he might be safer if she knew what he was up to.

"Castle! Rick! Come down here!" she demands.

"Hang on a minute." The sounds of a lot of quick shuffling are followed by the scraping of a violin string by an inexperienced bow handler.

For the cacophony that it is, the silence that follows is deafening.

She lies down on the floor and stretches her long body enough to catch the heel of her boot on the bottom of the couch, leverage-style she manages to move the couch toward her. Its slow, but a victory none the less. She works it until the phone drops from the back of the couch to the floor.

She can touch it with the tip of her boot, but she only succeeds in moving it slightly farther away.

She sighs.

_It's way too quiet upstairs_, she thinks as she works her boot off and flexes her foot.

"Rick?"

She finally manages to snag the phone with her toe. Scrunches up her foot to bring it close enough to reach down and pick it up.

* * *

Alexis is surprised it's her, and the awkwardness of asking his daughter for help is offset by Castle's overheard gibberish.

"Ka-ate, do you know where the tape measure is? Or that cotton candy machine we used at Halloween?"

To her credit, Alexis catches-on immediately.

"Wait," her voice was suspicious, "Did someone give dad narcotic pain pills?"

"He broke a tooth earlier today, we went to Dr. Hanes, it's fixed." It sounds defensive when she says it in a rush. The detective now knows how it feels to be a suspect.

"And you tried to handle him alone?" Alexis' sounds alarmed.

"Well, that's why I'm calling you. . . " Kate bit her lip, hoping to not need to explain any further. This was embarrassing enough.

"I'll be right there." And then his daughter hangs up.

She resigns herself to the inevitable, Alexis is going to find them like this.

* * *

"He's asleep on my bed," Alexis says, holding up a handcuff key as she comes down the stairs, "this was in his pants pocket."

She stands in front of the detective who is pathetically slouched in her prison chair, "Before I do this," she indicates with the key, "I need you to know that I don't want to know."

"You don't want to know what?"

"I don't want to know how this happened, or why my dad is wearing only his boxers and the chest target for laser tag, or how you wound up handcuffed."

"Alexis, I . . ."

"Don't," the girl raises her palm, "really. I don't want to know. Whatever you and my dad are doing, he's happy. When he's happy, I'm happy."

She hands over the key and tosses a final piece of advice over her shoulder, "by the way, the secret is coffee."

"The secret to what?" she calls after the girl.

"The secret to controlling my dad on painkillers is to make him drink coffee. For whatever reason, when he's hyper, it has the opposite effect."

And then she's gone.

Kate unlocks her own wrist and brings her hand up to her face. One thing she's sure of, 'apples' is no longer their safe word.

* * *

Adorable.

It's the only word to describe him curled up on his side, laser tag target hugged to his chest, drooling a little. She's slightly confused by the one fuchsia pump that lies by the tennis racket and bar of soap in the twin sized bed, but she moves what she can, carefully unstrapping the chest-piece from him before crawling in to spoon him from behind, pulling a blanket over them both.

She falls asleep with her forehead pressed into the back of his neck, wondering about the effects of caffeine on hyperactivity.


End file.
